There is a long standing debate about how to play Chopin. It is well-known that he was physically weak, and unable to play bombastically. Should all of his music be played more subtle, or should it be played as perhaps Franz Liszt (a contemporary and friend of Frederic Chopin) would most likely have played Chopin's music?

Most likely the answer will never be definitive, but I offer two piano samples I found on youtube... Which do you prefer?

Pianists today use a far different technique than pianists a couple centuries ago. Listen to Christina Kobb talk about how she learned to play from Johann Hummel's piano instruction guide (Hummel was a student of Mozart)

And yet another reason to take piano lessons! Your brain will be more efficient in the years to come.

Science shows how pianists learn to develop both sides of their brain. Read the following article. http://mic.com/articles/91329/science-shows-how-piano-players-brains-are-actually-different-from-everybody-elses

Breaking news! JoyTunes just announced they are now offering the app Piano Maestro at no cost for teachers and students. This exciting app works with your acoustic piano to help students learn more quickly and become better students. Check out their blog announcement here.

Sit back, relax and enjoy the show - What beautiful music, what an incredible amount of time spent learning to play this music. Enjoy the beauty! I apologize that I do not know the title of the work being played - if anyone knows, please share the knowledge!

I just had the incredible privilege of hearing the Requiem for the Living, by Dan Forrest. Written by a fairly new-ish composer (as in, young, alive, still composing, not dead like Mozart and Beethoven), this choral piece stunned me. I went to school with the composer, and never dreamed he would someday write something like this. Traditionally, the Requiem is a multi-movement choral work written for the dead; it is literally a mass for the dead. By contrast, Dan wrote his Requiem for the living - intended to bring comfort to those who are suffering through whatever pain has hit them in this life. The Requiem opens with the traditional Kyrie-Introit, but departs into one of the most incredible Requiem movements I have personally heard—Vanitas Vanitatum "Vanity of Vanities - all is vanity!" This music brings the listener through all the grief of personal pain. By the end of all the movements, the listener is pointed to the God of heaven and His Christ, who came that there might be a mitigation for suffering - an end - that peace may be both sought and found through the suffering of Christ.

I love passing on free music - Check out this Christian music arranger... http://www.greghowlett.com/freearrangements.aspx He is offering a number of free arrangements, as well as some free tutorials on arrangement sacred music.